Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 6 Valuation and Characteristics of Bonds
Chapter 6 Valuation and Characteristics of Bonds
Chapter 6 Valuation and Characteristics of Bonds
Characteristics of Bonds
LEARNNG OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter you should be able to
1. Distinguish between different kinds of bonds.
2. Explain the more popular features of bonds.
3. Define the term value as used for several different purposes.
4. Describe the basic process for valuing assets.
5. Estimate the value of a bond.
6. Compute a bondholder’s expected rate of return.
7. Explain three important relationships that exist in bond valuation.
OBJECTIVE 1 TYPES OF BONDS
A bond is a type of debt or long-term promissory note, issued
by the borrower, promising to pay its holder a predetermined and fixed
amount of interest per year. However, there are a wide variety of such
creatures. Just to mention a few, we have
· Debentures
· Subordinated debentures
· Mortgage bonds
· Eurobonds
· Zero and very low coupon bonds
· Junk bonds
We will briefly explain each of these types of bonds.
·Debentures
The term debentures applied to any unsecured long-term debt.
·Subordinated debentures
Many firms have more than one issue of debentures outstanding.
In this case a hierarchy may be specified, in which some debentures
are given subordinated standing in case of insolvency.
·Mortgage bonds
A mortgage bond is a bond secured by a lien on real property.
·Eurobonds
Eurobonds are not so much a different type of security as they are
securities, in this case bonds, issued in a country different from the one
in whose currency the bond is denominated.
·Zero and very low coupon bonds
Zero and very low coupon bonds allow the issuing firm to issue
bonds at a substantial discount from their $1,000 face value with a zero
or very low coupon rate.
·Junk bonds
Junk bonds are high-risk debt with ratings of BB or below by
Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s. Junk bonds are also called high-
yield bonds for the high interest rates they pay the investor, typically
having an interesting rate of between 3 and 5 percent more than AAA
grade long-term debt.
BACK TO THE FUNDATIONS
Axiom 1: The Risk-Return Trade-off——We Won’t
Take on Additional Risk Unless We Except to be
Compensated with Additional Return.
OBJECTIVE 2
TERMINOLOGY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BONDS
Some of the more important terms and characteristics that you might
hear about bonds are as follows:
▪Claims on assets and income
▪Par value
▪Coupon interest rate
▪Maturity
▪Indenture
▪Current yield
▪Bond ratings
Let’s consider each in turn.
·Claims on Assets and Income
In the case of insolvency, claims of debt in general, including
bonds, are honored before those of both common stock and preferred
stock. However, different types of debt may also have a hierarchy
among themselves as to the order of their claim on assets.
Bonds also have a claim on income that comes ahead of common
and preferred stock. In general if interest on bonds is not paid, the bond
trustees can classify the firm as insolvent and force it into bankruptcy.
Thus, the bondholder’s claim on income is more likely to be honored
than that of common and preferred stockholders, whose dividends are
paid at the discretion of the firm’s management.
·Par value
The par value of a bond is its face value that is returned the
bondholder at maturity.
·Maturity
The maturity of a bond indicates the length of time until the bond
issuer returns the par value to the bondholder and terminates or
redeems the bond.
·Indenture
An Indenture is the legal agreement between the firm issuing the
bonds and the bond trustee who represents the bondholders.
·Current yield
The current yield on a bond refers to the ratio of the annual
interest payment to the bond’s current market price.
·Bond Ratings
These ratings involve a judgment about the future risk potential of the
bond.
Bond ratings are favorably affected by
(1) a greater reliance on equity as opposed to debt in financing the firm,
(2) profitable operations,
(3) a low variability in past earnings,
(4) large firm size, and
(5) little use of subordinated debt.
The poorer the bond rating, the higher the rate of return demanded in the
capital markets.
Table 6-1 provides an example and description of these ratings.
Table 6-1 Standard and Poor’s Corporate Bond Ratings
AAA This is the highest rating assigned by Standard and Poor’s for debt obligation
and indicates an extremely strong capacity to pay principal and interest.
AA Bonds rated AA also qualify as high-quality debt obligations. Their capacity to pay
principal and interest is very strong, and in the majority of instances they differ from AAA
issues only in small degree.
A Bonds rated A have a strong capacity to pay principal and interest, although they
are somewhat susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and
economic conditions.
BBB Bonds rated BBB are regarded as having an adequate capacity to pay principal
and interest. Whereas they normally exhibit adequate protection parameters, adverse
economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened
capacity to pay principal and interest for bonds in this category than for bonds n the A
category.
BB Bonds rated BB, B, CCC, and CC are regarded, on balance, as
B predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay
CCC interest and repay principal in accordance with the terms of the obligation.
CC BB indicates the lowest degree of speculation and CC the highest. While such
bonds will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these are outweighed
by large uncertainties or major risk exposures to adverse conditions.
C The rating C is reserved for income bonds on which no interest is being paid
D Bonds rated D are in default, and payment of principal and/or interest is in arrears.
Plus (+) or Minus (-): To provide more detailed indications of credit quality,
the ratings from AA to BB may be modified by the addition of a plus or minus sign to
show relative standing within the major rating categories.
OBJECTIVE 3 DEFINITIONS OF VALUE
· Liquidation value is the dollar sum that could be realized if an asset were
sold individually and not as part of a going concern.
· Step 1: Estimate the amount and timing of the expected future cash flows. Two
type of cash flows are received by the bondholder:
a. Annual interest payments equal to the coupon rate of interest times the face
value of the bond. In this example the bond’s coupon interest rate is 9 percent;
thus the annual interest payment is $90=0.09×$1,000. Assuming that 1996 interest
payments have already been made, these cash flows will be received by the
bondholder in each of the 20 years before the bond matures (1997 through 2016 =
20 years).
Figure 6-2 Data Requirements for Bond Valuation
b. The face value of the bond of $l,000 to be received in 2016. To summarize,
the cash flows received by the bondholder are as follows:
YEARS 1 2 3 4 … 19 20
$90 $90 $90 $90 … $90 $90
+$1,000
$1,090
· Step 2: Determine the investor's required rate of return by evaluating
the riskiness of the bond's future cash flows. An 8.4 percent required rate
of return for the bondholders is given. In Chapter 8, we will learn how this
rate is determined. For now, simply realize that the investor’s required
rate of return is equal to a rate earned on a risk-free security plus a risk
premium for assuming risk.
· Step 3: Calculate the intrinsic value of the bond as the present value
of the expected future interest and principal payments discounted at the
investor's required rate of return.
The present value of American Airlines bonds is found as follows:
bond value = Vb =$ interest in yare 1/(1+required rate of return)1
+$ interest in year 2/(1+required rate of return)2 (6-3a)
· Second Relationship
The market value of a bond will be less than the par value if the investor's
required rate of return is above the coupon interest rate; but it will be
valued above par value if the investor's required rate of return is below
the coupon interest rate.
· Third Relationship
Long-term bonds have greater interest rate risk than do short-term
bonds.
As already noted, a change in current interest rates (required rate of
return) causes an inverse change in the market value of a bond.
However, the impact on value is greater for long-term bonds than it is
for short-term bonds.
In Figure 6-3 we observed the effect of interest rate changes on a 5-
year bond paying a 12 percent coupon interest rate.
Figure 6-3 Value and Required Rates for a 5-Year Bond at 12 Percent
Coupon Rate\
1,200
$1,117
1,100
Market value
$1,000
1,000
$899
900
800
6 8 10 12 14 16
Figure 6-4: Market Values of a 5-Year and a 10-Year Bond at Different Required
Rates
1,200
1,100
Market value
1,000
5 -y
ear
900 10 bon
- ye d
ar
bo
nd
800
6 8 10 12 14 16